People walk past the building housing the offices of Cambridge Analytica in central London, Britain, March 20, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

LONDON (Reuters) - Cambridge Analytica, the firm embroiled in a controversy over its handling of Facebook (FB.O) data, should not escape scrutiny through its decision to shut down, the chairman of a committee of British lawmakers said.

Cambridge Analytica and its parent, SCL Elections, said on Wednesday they would begin bankruptcy proceedings after losing clients and facing mounting legal fees following reports the company wrongly harvested Facebook users’ personal data from 2014.

“They are party to very serious investigations and those investigations cannot be impeded by the closure of these companies,” Damian Collins, chairman of parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee - which is scrutinizing Cambridge Analytica - told Reuters.

“I think it’s absolutely vital that the closure of these companies is not used as an excuse to try and limit or restrict the ability of the authorities to investigate what they were doing.”